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IBM starts restricting hardware patches

Following through on a policy change announced in 2012, IBM has started restricting availability of hardware patches to paying customers, spurring at least one advocacy group to accuse the company of anticompetitive practices.

IBM “is getting to the spot where the customer has no choice but to buy an IBM maintenance agreement or lose access to patches and changes,” said Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the Digital Right to Repair (DRTR), a coalition for championing the rights of digital equipment owners.

Such a practice could dampen the market for support service of IBM equipment from non-IBM contractors, and could diminish the resale value of IBM equipment, DRTR charged...